The Future of TV?

14Nov11

The decline of the television industry has been a topic of conversation during several of our discussions this semester. The recent announcement of Google/YouTube’s plan to launch 96 specialized TV channels, to be launched over the course of the next year, is yet another threat that cable television must face.

The $100 million deal will produce original content TV channels on YouTube, which will be free for viewers and supported by advertisers. Many of the channels will feature specialized content for niche audiences, such as programming specifically for children, moms, or food lovers and more. This represents the shift from the old mass media models of the past, allowing people to view specifically what they are interested in, when it is convenient to their schedule.

The readings this week also focused on the ever-changing environments involved in the creative industries. The evolution of various technologies is one such important change addressed in Chapter 4 of MMW. “Technological innovations supplement, rather than replace previous technologies. The previous medium is not destroyed, but progressively undermined” (44). Mario Quieroz, head of Google TV, said the intention was not to compete with cable. “We don’t believe the Web is going to replace linear TV. This is designed to be complementary to cable TV” (Williams).

However, many are still very skeptical about the future of the cable industry. One of the main concerns lies with the younger generation, who has grown up with things like Netflix and YouTube, and who see no reason or logic behind buying cable. “These are digital natives coming out of college and high school who have no intention of ever being a conventional cable customer paying more than $1000 a year in cable bills like their parents did” (Braswell).

All of these things are big concerns for the television industry, and it will be interesting to see how it fares in the next few years. Threats like these are what make successful and creative management so vital, and for TV, organizing and implementing these strategies seems to be more important than ever before.